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6th grade reading comprehension
6th grade (Year 7 in England) · 16 questions · Common Core: RL.6.1, RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RL.6.2 · England: KS3 Reading, GCSE English Language (evidence), Y6 Reading (summarising)
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Date
Score/ 16
The Long Wall
The Great Wall of China is not one wall at all. It is a network of walls, trenches and watchtowers built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years by different dynasties. If all its sections were laid end to end, they would stretch over 21,000 kilometres – more than half the distance around the Earth.
The earliest walls were built from packed earth around the seventh century BCE, when rival Chinese states defended their borders from one another. In about 220 BCE, the first emperor of a united China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered many of these separate walls to be joined together to protect the north from raiding groups.
The sections that most visitors see today are far younger. They were built during the Ming dynasty, between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ming builders used bricks and stone, which is why these sections have survived so well. Watchtowers were placed close enough together for soldiers to send signals using smoke by day and fire by night.
The wall came at a terrible cost. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, prisoners and farmers were forced to work on it, often in freezing mountains or burning deserts. Many died, and stories and songs about their suffering are still told.
Did the wall work? Historians disagree. It slowed down small raids and helped control trade and travel, but determined armies could still break through or simply go around it. Today, its greatest power may be as a symbol – of human effort, of history and of a nation's identity.
Question 1
Read "The Long Wall". What is the main idea of paragraph 1?
- A. The wall goes around the Earth.
- B. Only one dynasty built the wall.
- C. The Great Wall was built in one year.
- D. The Great Wall is a vast network built over a very long time.
Question 2
Read the question and choose. Which detail makes an article MORE trustworthy?
- A. it names its sources and links to the original study
- B. it says 'everyone knows this'
- C. it has no author
- D. it uses lots of capital letters and exclamation marks
Question 3
What point of view is this extract written in? Lena stared at the letter. She wondered if her brother had written it as a joke.
- A. first person
- B. second person
- C. third person limited
- D. third person omniscient
Question 4
Read the question and choose. Why might a writer choose a first-person narrator for a mystery?
- A. the reader learns clues only as the narrator does, which builds suspense
- B. it lets the reader know every character's secrets
- C. it makes the story less personal
- D. it means there can be no dialogue
The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment
For one month, students at Brookfield School tried something unusual: no phones at lunch. Phones stayed in lockers from twelve until one, and the dining hall filled with board games, sketchbooks and a lot more noise.
The idea came from the student council. In a survey, 61 per cent of students said they spent most of lunch looking at a screen, and many said they wanted a break but found it hard to stop on their own.
At first, not everyone was happy. "I thought it was a punishment," admitted Jaden, 12. "But after a week I'd learned to play chess, and now I actually look forward to lunch."
Teachers noticed changes too. Ms Ortega, who supervises the hall, said there were fewer arguments and more students sitting in mixed groups. However, some students said they missed messaging family members during the day.
The council will now vote on whether to keep the rule. One suggestion is a compromise: phone-free Mondays to Thursdays, with Fridays left free.
Question 5
Read "The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment". What is the main purpose of this article?
- A. to entertain with a made-up story
- B. to sell board games
- C. to persuade readers to ban phones everywhere
- D. to inform readers about the trial and different views on it
The Clever Octopus
If you wanted to design an intelligent animal from scratch, you probably would not start with a creature that has no bones, three hearts and blue blood. Yet the octopus is one of the most remarkable problem-solvers in the animal kingdom.
In laboratories, octopuses have learned to unscrew jar lids to reach crabs inside. Some have escaped from their tanks at night, crept across the floor to a neighbouring tank to eat the fish, and then returned home before morning. In the wild, veined octopuses have been filmed collecting coconut shells, carrying them across the seabed and assembling them into a portable shelter – one of the few known examples of tool use by an invertebrate.
What makes this intelligence so surprising is how different the octopus brain is from ours. About two-thirds of its roughly 500 million nerve cells are not in its head at all but in its eight arms. Each arm can taste, touch and even make simple decisions on its own. Scientists are still debating what it might feel like to be an animal whose thinking is spread throughout its body.
The octopus's cleverness may be linked to its lifestyle. Without a shell for protection, it must outwit predators by hiding, changing colour in a fraction of a second, or squeezing through gaps no bigger than its beak. Survival depends on flexible thinking.
Strangely, most octopuses live only one or two years. They have no parents to teach them and usually die soon after laying eggs. Every skill they show, they must largely work out for themselves.
Question 6
Read "The Clever Octopus". Which detail best supports the idea that octopuses use tools?
- A. Veined octopuses carry coconut shells to build a shelter.
- B. Each arm can taste.
- C. Octopuses have three hearts.
- D. Octopuses live for one or two years.
Who Has Seen the Wind? (Christina Rossetti, 1872)
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Question 7
Read "Who Has Seen the Wind? (Christina Rossetti, 1872)". What is the main idea of the poem?
- A. Leaves are afraid of the wind.
- B. Only children can see the wind.
- C. The wind is dangerous and destroys trees.
- D. We cannot see the wind itself, but we can see its effects.
The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment
For one month, students at Brookfield School tried something unusual: no phones at lunch. Phones stayed in lockers from twelve until one, and the dining hall filled with board games, sketchbooks and a lot more noise.
The idea came from the student council. In a survey, 61 per cent of students said they spent most of lunch looking at a screen, and many said they wanted a break but found it hard to stop on their own.
At first, not everyone was happy. "I thought it was a punishment," admitted Jaden, 12. "But after a week I'd learned to play chess, and now I actually look forward to lunch."
Teachers noticed changes too. Ms Ortega, who supervises the hall, said there were fewer arguments and more students sitting in mixed groups. However, some students said they missed messaging family members during the day.
The council will now vote on whether to keep the rule. One suggestion is a compromise: phone-free Mondays to Thursdays, with Fridays left free.
Question 8
Read "The Phone-Free Lunch Experiment". What is the article mainly about?
- A. how to vote in a student council
- B. the history of mobile phones
- C. why chess is the best board game
- D. a school's month-long trial of phone-free lunches and how people reacted
Speech: Our Beach, Our Responsibility
Good morning, everyone. Last Saturday, twenty-three pupils from this school spent three hours on Sandy Bay beach. We collected forty-one bags of rubbish. Forty-one. Bottles, crisp packets, fishing line, a shoe, and – I promise you this is true – an entire garden chair.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "It's not my rubbish. Why should I pick it up?" And you're right: most of us didn't drop it. But here's the thing. The seal pup that gets tangled in that fishing line doesn't care whose fault it was. The toddler who cuts her foot on broken glass doesn't care either.
That beach belongs to all of us. We swim there in summer. We walk our dogs there in winter. Some of us learned to ride our bikes on the promenade. If it belongs to all of us, then looking after it belongs to all of us too.
So I'm asking you for just one thing. Not money. Not your whole weekend. Just two hours, on the first Saturday of next month. Bring gloves, bring a friend, bring your little brother if you have to.
Because if twenty-three of us can fill forty-one bags, imagine what four hundred of us could do.
Thank you.
Question 9
Read "Speech: Our Beach, Our Responsibility". How does the speaker respond to the objection "It's not my rubbish"?
- A. She ignores it.
- B. She agrees, then argues the harm happens regardless of whose fault it is.
- C. She tells people to blame tourists.
- D. She says everyone dropped rubbish.
The Long Wall
The Great Wall of China is not one wall at all. It is a network of walls, trenches and watchtowers built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years by different dynasties. If all its sections were laid end to end, they would stretch over 21,000 kilometres – more than half the distance around the Earth.
The earliest walls were built from packed earth around the seventh century BCE, when rival Chinese states defended their borders from one another. In about 220 BCE, the first emperor of a united China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered many of these separate walls to be joined together to protect the north from raiding groups.
The sections that most visitors see today are far younger. They were built during the Ming dynasty, between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ming builders used bricks and stone, which is why these sections have survived so well. Watchtowers were placed close enough together for soldiers to send signals using smoke by day and fire by night.
The wall came at a terrible cost. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, prisoners and farmers were forced to work on it, often in freezing mountains or burning deserts. Many died, and stories and songs about their suffering are still told.
Did the wall work? Historians disagree. It slowed down small raids and helped control trade and travel, but determined armies could still break through or simply go around it. Today, its greatest power may be as a symbol – of human effort, of history and of a nation's identity.
Question 10
Read "The Long Wall". According to the final paragraph, what do historians disagree about?
- A. who built the first section
- B. whether tourists should visit
- C. whether the wall was effective
- D. how long the wall is
Speech: Our Beach, Our Responsibility
Good morning, everyone. Last Saturday, twenty-three pupils from this school spent three hours on Sandy Bay beach. We collected forty-one bags of rubbish. Forty-one. Bottles, crisp packets, fishing line, a shoe, and – I promise you this is true – an entire garden chair.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "It's not my rubbish. Why should I pick it up?" And you're right: most of us didn't drop it. But here's the thing. The seal pup that gets tangled in that fishing line doesn't care whose fault it was. The toddler who cuts her foot on broken glass doesn't care either.
That beach belongs to all of us. We swim there in summer. We walk our dogs there in winter. Some of us learned to ride our bikes on the promenade. If it belongs to all of us, then looking after it belongs to all of us too.
So I'm asking you for just one thing. Not money. Not your whole weekend. Just two hours, on the first Saturday of next month. Bring gloves, bring a friend, bring your little brother if you have to.
Because if twenty-three of us can fill forty-one bags, imagine what four hundred of us could do.
Thank you.
Question 11
Read "Speech: Our Beach, Our Responsibility". What is the speaker asking the audience to do?
- A. stop going to the beach
- B. give money to a charity
- C. join a beach clean-up next month
- D. write to the council
Should Primary Schools Ban Homework?
Every evening, in homes across the country, the same battle takes place: tired children, frustrated parents and a worksheet that nobody wants to finish. It is time for primary schools to ban homework.
The most important reason is that, for young children, the evidence for homework is weak. Several large reviews of research have found that homework has little measurable effect on the test results of pupils under eleven. Older students may benefit, but for younger children, the hours spent on worksheets do not seem to pay off.
Second, children need time to play, rest and be with their families. Play is not a waste of time; it builds creativity, problem-solving and friendships. A child who has spent six hours concentrating at school deserves an evening to explore, read for pleasure or simply be bored – which is when imagination often kicks in.
Some people argue that homework teaches responsibility. This is a fair point. However, children can learn responsibility in many other ways: feeding a pet, helping to cook dinner or practising an instrument they have chosen themselves.
Finally, homework can be unfair. Some children have parents who can help them every night and a quiet desk to work at. Others share a small space with siblings or have parents who work late. Homework can widen the gap between these children instead of closing it.
Schools should replace homework with something simple: read every day, for fun. That is one habit worth taking home.
Question 12
Read "Should Primary Schools Ban Homework?". What is the writer's main claim?
- A. Primary schools should ban homework.
- B. Older students benefit from homework.
- C. Children should read for fun.
- D. Homework teaches responsibility.
Speech: Our Beach, Our Responsibility
Good morning, everyone. Last Saturday, twenty-three pupils from this school spent three hours on Sandy Bay beach. We collected forty-one bags of rubbish. Forty-one. Bottles, crisp packets, fishing line, a shoe, and – I promise you this is true – an entire garden chair.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "It's not my rubbish. Why should I pick it up?" And you're right: most of us didn't drop it. But here's the thing. The seal pup that gets tangled in that fishing line doesn't care whose fault it was. The toddler who cuts her foot on broken glass doesn't care either.
That beach belongs to all of us. We swim there in summer. We walk our dogs there in winter. Some of us learned to ride our bikes on the promenade. If it belongs to all of us, then looking after it belongs to all of us too.
So I'm asking you for just one thing. Not money. Not your whole weekend. Just two hours, on the first Saturday of next month. Bring gloves, bring a friend, bring your little brother if you have to.
Because if twenty-three of us can fill forty-one bags, imagine what four hundred of us could do.
Thank you.
Question 13
Read "Speech: Our Beach, Our Responsibility". Which persuasive technique is used in paragraph 3?
- A. making a joke about the audience
- B. appealing to shared experiences and belonging
- C. quoting an expert
- D. using scientific data
Question 14
In 2019, pupils at Hill School noticed that the stream behind the school was full of plastic. They organised monthly clean-ups, wrote to the council, and persuaded local shops to stop using plastic bags. Within a year, the stream was clear and ducks had returned. Which is the best summary?
- A. In 2019, plastic bags were popular.
- B. The council owns the stream.
- C. Pupils cleaned up a polluted stream through action and persuasion, and wildlife returned.
- D. Ducks live near Hill School.
Question 15
Type the plot stage (in English) that matches this description. A series of events that build tension as the conflict develops.
Answer
The Last Lap
Ruby had trained for the school relay every morning since September, running laps of the park while her breath made clouds in the cold air. She was the fastest in her class, and everyone expected her team to win.
On the day of the race, the team's second runner, Theo, tripped on the bend and dropped the baton. By the time he scrambled up, two teams were far ahead. Ruby, waiting for the last leg, felt her heart sink.
When the baton finally reached her, she ran harder than she ever had. She passed one runner. The finish line rushed towards her. The crowd was roaring. Then, a metre from the tape, the leader dipped her shoulder and won by a hand's width.
Theo couldn't look at anyone. Ruby walked over, still panting, and held out the silver ribbon. "Second place," she said, "and that comeback was the best part of the whole race."
Later, the team hung the ribbon on the classroom wall, right next to the first-place trophy from the year before. Somehow it seemed brighter.
Question 16
Read "The Last Lap". From which point of view is the story told?
- A. first person, by Theo
- B. first person, by Ruby
- C. second person
- D. third person, mostly following Ruby's thoughts
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